Angry conservatives, explained
These differences with the Republican Party find me, after 48 years as a loyal member, now a political independent. How did we get here?
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The person of Donald Trump is not the answer: He is who he is. Rather, the cause lies in Republicans choosing him three times as their leader. How did a historically staid party associated with boardrooms and country clubs shun conventional politicians in favor of an immoral, greedy, litigious, egocentric, inconsistent, instinctive, and vulgar outsider?
In brief: The story began in the turbulent mid-1960s, when radicals rampaged (Chicago, 1968), following which liberals went too far left (George McGovern) and became too soft (hostages in Iran for 444 days). Those excesses and weaknesses spurred the morning-in-America reaction led by Ronald Reagan, a resounding conservative success that prompted Democrats to move back to the center, adopt the Third Way, and elect Bill Clinton as president.
Underneath the seemingly placid 1990s, however, a reinvigorated left repudiated that centrism and spoiled for a fight. The
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The right responded with uncharacteristic fury, as first manifested by the Tea Party movement. Significantly, the intellectual
Trump uncannily articulated the Republicans' medley of anger, contempt, and radicalism. In House Speaker
For his part, Trump grew into his role of their near-deity, evolving from an amateurish china-shop bull to a seasoned, highly skilled, and determined strongman. Foiled by 'the adults in the room' during his first administration, he now demands and receives obeisance to his overweening persona. He refers to himself as '
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This perilous moment raises questions about the future of angry conservatism. I expect MAGA will go too far, slashing budgets with
I predict that abnormality and failings will burn out the revolutionary mood now dominating the Republican Party. MAGA will not last another decade, after which manners will return, along with ethics, constancy, expertise, and principles.
In the meantime, this conservative remains a resolutely unaffiliated independent.
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